Developing and using Public Relations as part of your current marketing plan provides a cost effective method of increasing awareness of your company, products and services. Public relations allows you to stretch limited marketing budgets and, when implemented correctly, has the added benefit of providing credibility to third parties.

Still, while PR is a great marketing vehicle, understand that it takes time to build a successful PR engine and the results may not be immediate, making it difficult to assess whether your efforts are successful or need to be modified. With that in mind, you’ll want to make it as good as possible before you implement it.

To get off on the right foot, or to audit your current strategy that isn’t delivering the results you want, follow these five steps.

1) Develop a press kit.

Whether you are a product or service company, there are three documents that EVERY media/press kit should have:

• has. Background-this provides the “history” of your company and should include information on when it was founded, by whom and for what purpose, as well as an overview of your offering.
• b. fact sheet-this acts as a quick reference for key facts about your company, such as location(s), contact information, size, markets served, board of directors and/or executive management team, revenue, brief company description, and product offerings /services, mission statement, key customers, significant milestones or awards/recognition, etc.
• against Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)-This is a summary of all the most important elements of your offer and company in a Q&A format, as well as answers to questions often asked by prospects, customers and partners.

Also, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with the kit, you should include collateral relevant to product/service offerings, current press releases, and any supporting or value-added material such as product specifications and white papers.

2) Create a list of specific media.

Whether you buy a list or build your own through research, you need to know more than just the name of the publication, the address, and the phone number of the editor or editor-in-chief. Purchasing a list or service from Bacons, or similar providers, provides this level of detail, but it can be expensive. Either way, you’ll want to check that the posts are appropriate for your target audience.

Next, you need to determine who the appropriate contact is, whether it’s a publisher, writer, or freelancer, covering your type of business. You can do much of this by going online and searching their websites or by calling the main office and asking the receptionist or main operator. Get as much contact information as you can before contacting the publisher, you don’t want to waste your time when you contact them.

Be sure to keep track of your communications with each publisher, as well as your planned coverage in each publication, in a database or spreadsheet. By doing this, you will be able to easily manage your efforts and your list.

3) Study the publications.

Gather the current and back issues of the publications in your media list and read them cover to cover. Take note of the audience, recurring columns, topics or story types, as well as who is writing, so you can better design your submissions to fit the post. You should also get editorial calendars to see what future stories are relevant to your business. Check the deadlines for the issue and make sure you submit your relevant ‘submission’ to the appropriate editor well in advance.

4) Know your editors.

In addition to knowing your publisher’s contact information, there are several other things you need to learn about them in order to establish and maintain a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. Knowing your preferences is key. How do they prefer to receive information? (Believe it or not, some still want it by fax!) What is the best time of day or day of week to contact them? What are they really looking for from you (ie, what will help them do their job and get the coverage you want)?

While you want to keep the lines of communication open and flowing, you should limit outgoing contact with them to only useful and newsworthy items and stick to what’s convenient for them.

5) Have a plan.

Developing a public relations plan that outlines your goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics for the next six months of the year is imperative. After documenting all planned and newsworthy events, releases, and announcements, as well as other potential opportunities such as self-written articles, case studies, etc., you’ll want to create an implementation schedule. Assign the opportunities you found in the editorial calendars to your ads and include them in the calendar. Remember, releases to publishers are likely to occur months before a press release is issued, so you’ll need to make two entries in separate months for stuff like this.

Your ultimate goal throughout your publicity efforts is to do your publishers’ work for them. Give them information they can use, that doesn’t require additional legwork or research on your part, and always think of ways to make their lives easier.